The Secret Life of My Secretary – how Radily would have modified the setup
(Let me know what you guys think!)

1. Modification of characters:
– Cutting out any workplace politics: out goes all 5 secretaries, 3 directors and Min Ik’s power-hungry uncle -> I rather the show spend more screen time developing the unique romance and explore how the relevance of appearances vs personality in love (the potential is there for a deeper story even if it’s just a simple romance)
– Cutting out Dae Joo, Jung Soo and the two police characters: the show’s use of an attempted murder to introduce the facial blindness screams ‘manufactured tension’ to me -> I would convert the accident to purely an accident committed by the female lead so as to give her another reason to help the male lead out hide his illness
– Cutting out Dal Hee’s sister: I smell family angst with that fake acceptance letter -> a big no from me
– I would upgrade Gal Hee’s blind oppa into second-lead status -> to be explained below
– I would also change Min Ik’s mother significantly -> to be explained below

One trouble I foresee with this modification is that there are very little characters left. I understand the narrative need for a side-story alongside the main romance, but I myself am unsure how to organically add one. So in this modification I would focus mainly on the main plot lines.

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    2. Modification of story:
    – Gal Hee’s backstory: When Gal Hee and her oppa were young, their brought them out on a road trip. During a break, Gal Hee’s oppa inadvertently wandered onto the highway. Gal Hee noticed the situation but ignored it as she didn’t think much about it. Gal Hee’s mother ran to save him but both ended being hit by a car: oppa was shielded from the impact but became blind whereas the mother died on the spot. Gal Hee was overcome with guilt and she tries her very best in the present day to accommodate her oppa, with her current goal being to teach him how to read Braille. Gal Hee was forced to mature as she took on the role of breadwinner of the family. Without any education or skills, she toiled in manual labour jobs for some time before luckily landing the position as the secretary of a young CEO Min Ik.
    – Min Ik’s backstory: As far as he could remember, Min Ik’s memories go far back as being in an orphanage. He had to learn the harsh truth that his parents dumped him from a caregiver and therefore has developed significant fears of abandonment. When he gets adopted by his mother, he tries his best to meet her approval, working hard to improve himself and eventually becoming one of the youngest CEOs in Korea. His mother is aware of his efforts to impress her and is thankful, however, in the present day she is getting old and she wishes that he start living his life for himself.
    – The accident: One day when both Min Ik and Gal Hee are out on a business trip, situations repeat dramatically as Gal Hee notices a small boy wandering across a road. When Gal Hee dashes out this time to save the boy, Min Ik becomes the one to protect her from the impact: as a result he becomes face-blind though Gal Hee and the boy escape relatively unharmed. Fearing that his adoptive mother would abandon him if she found out about his face-blindness, Min Ik implores the doctor and Gal Hee to keep this illness a secret, though Gal Hee doesn’t need much persuading given her renewed guilt at yet again causing someone else to suffer. Different from the official show, he is unable to recognise anyone, though he has remembered enough of Gal Hee’s voice over the years to be able to differentiate her.

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    – 2nd leads: the small boy was actually blind and had wondered across the road because he momentarily escaped the oversight of his caregiver. He was from an organisation run by CEO Veronica that focuses in helping blind people. After the incident, Veronica learnt about Gal Hee’s valiant saving of the small boy and visited Gal Hee’s home to thank her in person. She comes upon Gal Hee’s oppa and is surprised at how Gal Hee was able to raise a blind sibling (she sees many cases of blind kids being abandoned). Talking to her oppa, she learns that Gal Hee was trying to teach him Braille and she helps out by teaching him the basics.
    – Meanwhile, Min Ik’s mother has been going around trying to find a suitable partner for her son and comes upon Veronica’s profile. Talking to Veronica’s mother, she organises the blind date and implores Gal Hee to ask Min Ik to see her at least once. Gal Hee, feeling guilty as she communicates with Min Ik’s mother, mishears the location and sends Min Ik to the wrong place. When Veronica contacts Gal Hee and both realise the mix-up, Veronica reveals to Gal Hee that she actually isn’t interested in a blind date and wants to let both mothers believe that they aren’t interested in each other, leaving behind Gal Hee to handle matters on Min Ik’s side. Feeling desperate, Gal Hee decides to impersonate Veronica by adopting her noticeably higher speaking pitch and ensure that Min Ik isn’t interested in “Veronica” so that Veronica’s ruse could be maintained. As per k-drama style, Min Ik ends up falling for “Veronica”.
    – A minor development: the doctor treating Min Ik for his face-blindness approaches the organisation that Veronica runs asking for advice on how to help Min Ik as he has not encountered such a case before.

    (Argh I faced so much difficulty getting this post up thanks to DB’s filters)

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